One Degree Hotter
by Rory Maria
Summary: College AU in which a snapchat sent to the wrong person brings sophomore English major Lucy Heartfilia and junior soccer star Natsu Dragneel closer than ever.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy closed her text books and pushed them to the other side of her desk. With a sigh, she folded her arms on the cool wooden surface and plopped her head down onto them.

 _Why do English majors have to take bio classes again?_

After a moment of mental recovery, Lucy sat up straight again and opened her first drawer. She'd stashed her phone in there to keep it from distracting her while she studied. But now that the torture of bio 151 was out of her way, Lucy was free to check social media.

Lucy frowned when her phone lit up in her hand. She scrolled through her lock screen to see a good number of snapchats from Cana. That was weird. Cana didn't usually use snapchat for her friends, she used it to talk to boys. Cringing, Lucy unlocked her phone and opened snapchat, hoping that Cana hadn't accidentally sent her nudes. Again.

With only one eye opened, Lucy checked the first snap. It was just a picture of Cana frowning with the caption, "Y do guys think I'm easy". Lucy sighed; she could come up with a few reasons, but Cana would probably get upset. The next few pictures were just slow close ups to Cana's face, with the phrases "Is it bc of my tits" "R they 2 big" "Or do I drink 2 much". The last picture was just an extreme close up of Cana's face with a bunch of question marks as the caption. It actually made Lucy laugh.

Sticking her tongue out and closing one eye, Lucy snapped a selfie. "Idk boys r stupid", she typed into the single line across her photo. Then she sent it.

Cana's next reply made Lucy laugh pretty obnoxiously. It was a full body picture. Cana was obviously making a mock sexy pose on her bed, and the caption read, "ye fukboiz i am redi". Lucy played along, leaning forward and using her arms to press her breasts together. She made an exaggerated duck face and sent the picture to Cana saying, "cum n get it".

The response Lucy got was a video. She hesitated, wondering what it could be of. She could only imagine the raunchy things Cana would be willing to do to get a laugh. Still, Lucy opened it. In the video, Cana was laughing. _"Oh my god, Lucy! Don't spell come like that!"_ Lucy tipped her head back and laughed again. She quickly moved onto her bed, ready to send Cana another snap.

The next fifteen minutes were spent with the girls sending mock sexy snapchats back and forth to each other. Cana had rid herself of many articles of clothing by now, and it honestly made the whole ordeal more laughable to Lucy. She'd kept all of her clothes on, but after Cana's recent booty pic with the caption "my dog took this pic lol" Lucy felt like she had to step up her game.

She closed snapchat for a moment, and tossed her phone away. Was she really willing to send Cana a partly nude picture? She would screen shot it, Lucy had no doubt about that. But would it be that bad?

"Ugh, stop being a chicken!" Lucy yelled at herself, and quickly tore her tshirt off. Underneath she was wearing a cute, pink lace bra. Cana would go nuts.

Angling her phone so that the picture would just be of her lips and cleavage, Lucy snapped the picture. She quickly typed in the caption "oops, my hand slipped" and hit the little arrow to show her contacts.

Lucy's finger hovered over Cana's name. She bit her lip, unsure if she really wanted to do this. What if Cana posted it on facebook or Instagram or something? Lucy would never live that down!

 _But Cana would never do that to you_ , Lucy reminded herself. With a deep breath, Lucy closed her eyes and hit Cana's name. She barely opened one eye and hit the little send arrow. Letting out the breath, Lucy sighed. "See? Not that bad," she told herself.

A little too eagerly, Lucy swiped left, looking to see if Cana had opened it. When Lucy saw what was on the screen, her eyes bulged out and her breath got caught in her throat. Cana would never open the snap, because it wasn't sent to her.

Quickly swiping back over, Lucy looked at her "best friends" list. Cana was number one, after their many snaps back and forth just then. But right under her was…

Lucy screeched and closed the app. Opening up iMessage, Lucy blindly wrote out a message to Cana.

 **Lucy:** I JUST ACCIDENTALLY SENT A SHIRTLESS PICTURE TO NATSU DRAGNEEL


	2. Chapter 2

Natsu was absentmindedly throwing a basketball in the air and catching it again. He'd finished all of his assignments early for once, and now had nothing to do but lie in bed and do this. To say he was bored was an understatement.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw his phone light up and turned to look at it, forgetting about basketball. The smooth leather smacked him right in the face and he grunted, throwing the ball across the room.

"Ow," Natsu mumbled, rubbing his cheek with one hand while the other reached for his phone.

 ** _Snapchat_** _  
Lucy Heartfilia_

"That's weird," he said, staring blankly at his phone.

Natsu had met Lucy about two weeks ago. He chuckled, now, thinking back to the memory.

 _"Shit, I'm too late!" Natsu hissed, angrily pulling at his professor's door. He hadn't realized how long I would take him to print out his final paper._

 _"Damn library," Natsu cursed, running down the hall and towards the stairs. If they'd just had one working printer –_ just one _– he would have been able to print his paper in no time. But no, Natsu had to run all the way across campus to the only open computer lab. And now, he was late._

 _As he took the stairs two at a time, Natsu prayed he could catch his professor before he started his next class. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he ran down the hallway, full speed. One minute. He had one minute._

I can do this! _Natsu thought to himself just as he rounded the corner running right into the open classroom._

 _"Dragneel! The hell are you doing here?" Professor Gildarts barked at him._

 _Natsu grinned. "I have my paper –"_

 _"That was due during my office hours, which you missed by ten minutes," Gildarts cut him off, causing Natsu to pause his step further into the room._

 _"Yeah, I know, but the printers were broken in the library. So I had to go across campus because all the computer labs are closed, and –"_

 _"No excuses, Dragneel! You should have had it printed last night."_

 _Natsu stood frozen in his spot half way to Professor Gildarts' desk. He was completely defeated. He'd worked so hard on his research paper, put extra time into it. And now this?_

 _"C'mon dad, give him a break. There really are no printers on campus. And everything closes so damn early on the weekends."_

 _Natsu's gazed snapped towards the brunette sitting in the front of the class. Instantly, his face broke into a grin. Good old Cana, always having his back._

 _"Ugh, fine, fine," Gildarts said, rolling his eyes, "Give me the damn paper."_

 _Natsu was about to move forward when suddenly something collided into his back. "Oof!" he heard a very female voice say, and then something wet and hot was pouring down his back._

 _"Oh – oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"_

 _Natsu turned around, still not processing what just happened. Behind him stood a very flustered girl with long blonde hair and an arm full of heavy looking books. In her right hand she held a Starbucks cup, without a lid, coffee dripping down her hand. Natsu looked to the floor and found the lid, as well as what he assumed to be most of the coffee. He guessed the rest of it was on his back._

 _"Miss Heartfilia –"_

 _"I'm sorry!" the girl cut off whatever the professor was about to say. Her cheeks were turning redder by the second, and Natsu thought she actually looked kind of…cute. "I was running late because there was only one person working in Starbucks – and I would have left, but I'd already paid for my drink! And I wasn't looking! I just ran in here! I'm so, so, so, so, so, so sorry – like_ so _sorry! I really mean it, I'm really –"_

 _"Sorry?" Natsu offered, chuckling to himself. Folding his paper and tucking it into his front pocket, he smiled at the girl. "Don't sweat it! It's an easy fix." And then Natsu reached behind his neck and gripped the damp material of his tshirt before pulling it off. "See? No problem."_

 _"Oh," the girl said shortly, her blush returning brighter than ever as she averted her gaze from his now bare chest._

 _"Tch," Cana scoffed from her seat, "Don't take him seriously, Lucy. Natsu just likes any excuse to take his shirt off."_

 _"I think you're confusing me with Gray," Natsu said, flashing Cana a grin as he quickly placed his paper on Gildarts' desk. Cana replied with a simple laugh._

 _"Well, Miss Heartfilia, I was just going to say you're my new favorite student for body slamming Dragneel like that. Go find a maintenance person, would ya?" Gildarts said, and Lucy left the room with a nod. "And you," he continued, glaring at Natsu, "Get out of my classroom and go find a damn shirt."_

 _"Aye sir!" Natsu said, giving a playful salute before walking out of the classroom. Once he was in the hallway again, he looked to his left and saw Lucy down the hall, talking to a guy in a janitor's get up. She was using her hands a lot as she spoke – probably explaining what had happened – and Natsu found himself smiling at her._

 _As he walked away, Natsu pulled his phone out and wrote out a message to Cana. Her response was almost instant._

 _Natsu: Hey, do you think Lucy would let me have her number if I asked?  
Cana: From the way she was staring at your abs, probably _

Natsu had gotten Lucy's number later that day, and the two had spoken regularly ever since. But the fact that she sent him a snapchat threw him off, considering that Lucy had told him she would be locked in her room all day studying. She purposely warned him that she probably wouldn't be talking to him, which he was bummed about, but accepted since he had to.

His phone lit up with another snapchat from Lucy, and finally Natsu unlocked his phone. He hit his snapchat app and quickly opened Lucy's snaps.

"Whoa."

Natsu's eye widened as he looked at his screen. Lucy's cleavage was on full display due to the fact that she was completely shirtless. Her bra was pink, and Natsu actually thought it looked really nice against her skin. He kept fighting the thoughts in his head saying she would look even better without it.

Natsu's eyes finally tore away from her breasts to notice Lucy's full lips at the top of the picture. Dear God, she was slightly biting on her bottom lip, coloring the flesh an even darker red than its usual light pink shade. "Oops, my hand slipped" Natsu read just as the picture disappeared forever.

Another image instantly filled his screen. This time, Lucy was wearing a shirt, which made Natsu slightly disappointed. Her dainty hand was covering most of her face, but Natsu could still see her flushed cheeks through the gaps in her fingers. "THAT WAS FOR CANA OMG" was written across the picture, and Natsu actually laughed. For some reason, he felt relieved that the picture was for Cana, and not meant for some other guy.

He double tapped on her name after the picture disappeared, and grinned at his camera. "Haha its cool" he wrote and quickly sent it.

When Lucy opened the snap, Natsu waited for her to reply. When five minutes passed, and she didn't, he got a little worried. Ignoring the fact that he was acting like an obsessed stalker guy, he opened his iMessage and sent a text to Cana.

 **Natsu:** Hey, is Lucy okay? She sent me something a little odd and I'm just worried

Almost immediately his phone buzzed in his hand with a response.

 **Cana:** So what did her bra look like?

Natsu rolled his eyes so hard it actually hurt his head.

 **Natsu:** CANA! I'm being serious, is she okay?  
 **Cana:** yeah, she's just really embarrassed  
 **Cana:** she's crying on the phone to me  
 **Cana:** oop, she just said she never wants to see you ever again  
 **Cana:** dramatic right?

Natsu stood up and shoved his phone into his back pocket before leaving his room. He knew Lucy probably wasn't serious, she was just embarrassed and saying stuff in the moment. After she calmed down, she'd be better. But, Natsu still worried. He'd grown really close with Lucy; he didn't want to lose her friendship over something as dumb as this.

"Hey Gray!" Natsu called, running down the steps of their frat house.

"What?" he heard his best friend respond unenthusiastically.

When he reached the bottom of the steps, Natsu saw Gray lying down on their sofa, watching old episodes of Dragon Ball Z. He walked over to the back of the couch and crossed his arms. "DBZ, huh? What did you do to upset Juvia this time?" Natsu asked in a flat tone.

"What?! Nothing! What the hell do you want?" Gray responded, sitting up straight. His jaw was clenched, but his eyes were sad.

Natsu sighed. "Yeah, right. DBZ is like your version of a chick flick. You always watch it when you have relationship problems."

"I'm only askin' ya this one more time, flame brain, what the hell do you want?" Gray asked, glaring a hole into the wall he was staring at. He refused to make eye contact with Natsu, so Natsu gave up.

"Whatever. Do you know what happened to that bra we stole from Erza's sorority house freshman year?" Natsu asked, walking towards the kitchen.

Gray fell back on the couch, resuming his previous position. "Yeah, it's hanging up above the back door. Why? You takin' up cross dressing or something?"

"Says the stripper," Natsu fired back as he entered the kitchen. He glanced up at the back door and sure enough, there was the old white bra that reminded Natsu of a crazy night.

 _"You sure about this, pyro?" Gray asked, looking around uneasily._

 _Natsu only rolled his eyes. The two were at a party being thrown by the campus' most popular sorority, Fairy Heart. Natsu and Gray were freshman, pledging for Fairy Tail. The group of pledges were told that if any of them could steal a bra from Mavis Vermillion, they would earn extra points with the guys, and basically have a sure ticket into the frat. And Natsu was all about challenges._

 _"Yes, just come on! Everyone is going upstairs anyway. We'll just act like we're going to the bathroom, sneak into Mavis' room, and take a bra. How hard can it be?"_

 _When the boys reached the top of the steps, they paused. There were crowds of people sneaking into bedrooms in pairs, and also a huge crowd around the bathroom. But what made them stop was the fact that no one – not even a house fly – was going anywhere near the room that had the name "Mavis" spelled across the doorway in pink lettering._

 _"Not that hard, huh, pyro?" Gray sneered, punching Natsu in the arm and turning to go back down the steps._

 _Natsu was staring down the door. Getting into Fairy Tail meant everything to him; his father had been in the frat, and told him stories about it all the time. Natsu had never had a family, but he knew that Fairy Tail could give him the sense of belonging he always wanted, always missed ever since Igneel died._

 _He ran towards the door without a second thought. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two huge guys moving towards him, and heard Gray's surprised voice say "What the – Dragneel, the hell are you doing?!"_

No turning back now, _Natsu thought to himself. Inside, the room was immaculate. He started tearing it apart instantly._

 _"Hey! Get out of Mavis' room!" a guy Natsu didn't know shouted at his face. He had a huge fist raised in the air, and Natsu didn't have time to block it. Before it collided with him, the guy was suddenly pulled backwards._

 _"Hey wise guy! Get the hell away from my friend!" Gray yelled, decking the guy in the stomach._

 _Natsu turned away when he saw the second guy running into the room. He tried to ignore the happiness that flooded him at being called Gray's friend, and instead focused on finding a damn bra. He was on his last drawer when – yes, finally!_

 _"Hey Gray!" Natsu shouted in triumph, holding up the white bra. He turned to see his friend stuck in a headlock and his face immediately fell into a frown. Giving himself a running start, Natsu head butted Gray's captor with full force. The guy made a choking sound and instantly let go of Gray._

 _"Thanks man," Gray rasped out, catching his breath._

 _Natsu nodded, holding up the bra again. "Got the bra. Let's go!"_

 _"How do we get out? These guys are blocking our only way out," Gray said, turning around slowly to face Mavis' body guards again. They were both in bad shape on the floor, but they were slowly standing up._

 _"Hey! There are two freshmen in Mavis' room! One's got her bra!" someone shouted, and the two boys snapped their heads towards each other in horror as the entire party seemed to try to rush into the room._

 _"Window, window, window!" Natsu started shouting, dragging Gray over to the huge window by Mavis' bed. As he struggled to open the lock, Gray started to back away anxiously._

 _"You can't be serious, flame brain!"_

 _"Dead serious, ice prick."_

 _And then Natsu jumped, pulling Gray along with him._

At the time, the senior members of the frat told Natsu and Gray that they were both insane. Of course, the seniors had been joking about the bra thing just to mess with the new pledges. But the fact that Natsu and Gray actually accomplished it made them legends on campus.

Dragging a chair over to the kitchen door, Natsu cleared his mind of old memories. He stood on the chair, and carefully unhooked the bra from the nails it was hanging on. He swung the bra around as he hopped down from the chair and pushed it aside before walking back into the living room.

"Nah, it's for Lucy, actually," Natsu said, stopping behind the sofa to talk to Gray again.

"You're giving the girl you like an old bra?" Gray said with complete confusion. He eyed the old material in Natsu's hand with a critical gaze. "I think it's too small for her, anyway."

"Hey!" Natsu said, feeling suddenly protective of Lucy. He slammed a fist into Gray's head. "Don't stare at Lucy's boobs when you have Juvia!"

"Oi!" Gray grumbled, sitting up angrily. He rubbed his head as he spoke. "I ain't lookin'! I'm just sayin', that thing is tiny!"

Natsu's gaze fell upon the material in his hand. He had to admit, it was pretty small. It would probably fit him, which was the end goal. Natsu slid his arms through the straps and pulled the bra up until it was flush against his bare chest. "Hook the back, would ya," he asked, turning around so that his back was facing Gray.

"So I was right, you are a cross dresser now. Don't see what this s'got to do with Lucy, though," Gray mumbled, kneeling up on the sofa to grip the back of the bra.

"It's none of your business," Natsu snapped, cringing as the material stretched uncomfortably around his ribs.

"Whatever. Sorry to tell you this buddy, but this is nowhere close to fitting you," Gray said, letting go of the straps so suddenly that they snapped back and hit Natsu's ribs painfully.

Before Natsu could respond, the back door flew open and a flood of voices and footsteps filled the house. Natsu groaned as the rest of his housemates filled into the living room.

"DBZ huh? The hell did you do to Juvia this time?" Gajeel asked, crossing his sweaty arms while looking at Gray.

"More importantly, why is Natsu wearing a bra?" Sting asked, raising his eyebrows as he took a long drink from his water bottle.

Natsu made a show of rolling his eyes as the guys made their way further into the room. "Gray's not talkin', and neither am I," he said as the guys threw themselves onto the sofas and floor, obviously exhausted. "How'd the volleyball tournament go, though?" Natsu asked suddenly, remembering why he was able to get his work done early today. His house had been nearly empty, which meant it was peaceful for once.

"Awesome!" Sting responded almost immediately from his sprawled position on the floor.

"Fairy Tail won, of course," Laxus said, patting down his sweaty face with the towel draped around his neck. "We also raised over three thousand dollars for our charity."

"Nice!" Natsu cheered at the same time Gray shouted, "Hell yeah!" The two grinned at each other and shared a particularly loud high five.

"But seriously, why is Natsu in a bra?" Jellal asked, walking into the room with cold water bottles in his hands. He looked the least sweaty out of all of them, and gracefully took a seat on the edge of the sofa after tossing the bottles to Gajeel and Laxus.

"I think he's getting into cross dressing," Gray informed the group, standing up. He let out an obnoxious yawn as he threw his hands above his head, stretching his entire body.

Jellal's brows rose instantly and his gaze darted back to Natsu. And suddenly, the whole room was staring at him, waiting for an answer.

Frowning, Natsu threw a punch at Gray, which he dodged, making Natsu even angrier. "I ain't a cross dresser! Lucy isn't feelin' well, just tryin' to cheer her up," he grumbled, crossing his arms. So he lied a little bit. The guys didn't need to know that Lucy sent him a shirtless pic, especially since Laxus kinda already had a thing for her.

"Are you trying to cheer her up or scare her to death?" Rogue asked, finally breaking his never ending silence. His tone seemed to be serious, too, which made Natsu's frown deepen.

"I'm just trying to make her laugh! But this damn bra doesn't fit me," he grumbled, throwing himself over the sofa, so that he was sitting upside down, his back against the seat cushions.

"Did you move up a cup size?" Gajeel teased, sitting down on the chair next to the sofa.

Natsu's face dropped as the room fell into laughter. "Ha, ha," he dryly laughed along with them. "You're an asshole, Gajeel. The band isn't long enough, it doesn't fit around my ribs."

"You're too fat," Gray jabbed as he reentered the room with a bowl of cereal. He sat down on the floor in front of the sofa, his body right next to Natsu's head. With a stuffed mouth, Gray looked directly at Natsu's face with a cocky smirk.

Natsu sent his friend a glare, and opened his mouth to speak, but Sting beat him to it.

"Wait, I've got an idea. Rogue, where'd you put the duct tape again?"

"What do you have in mind," Natsu asked slowly, sitting up as Rogue left the room to get the tape. His eyes narrowed when they were met with Sting's mischievous smirk.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Hey all! Sorry it took so long for me to update. If you follow me on tumblr, you know what's been going on. If not, well...enjoy this update!_

* * *

Lucy sniffled, wiping at her eyes. She couldn't believe she'd just cried over sending Natsu a shirtless picture. But how could she not?! She never did things like this, sending sexy pictures that is. Especially to boys!

Natsu probably thought she sent it on purpose and then chickened out and said it was a mistake. He was a frat guy and the star of the soccer team, of course he would be used to getting pictures like that all the time. Hers probably didn't measure up to the other ones he got. He looked like he was laughing in the response snap he sent her, he probably thought she looked ridiculous.

She shouldn't even care what Natsu thought of her! But Lucy cared a lot. Natsu had very quickly become an important part of her life. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't started to crush on him, either. And her picture probably ruined their friendship, let alone any chance she had of actually being with him.

 **Cana:** Lucy, just chill. Natsu asked me if you were okay, he still cares about you.  
 **Cana:** He's not the type of guy to just drop a friend like this. Trust me.

Lucy sighed, rereading Cana's last messages. She took a deep breath and wiped the final tears from her eyes. _You're okay. You can do this._ She still wasn't sure what she would do when she actually saw him, but for now, Lucy could at least snap Natsu back without having a break down.

Opening the snapchat app, Lucy swiped right, ready to send a response to Natsu when suddenly a solid red box appeared next to his name, notifying her of a new snap. With a shaking finger, Lucy opened it. She immediately fell into laughter.

On her screen was Natsu, wearing a dingy looking white bra. He was in the same position she had been in, and wrote the caption, "Am I pretty yet". Lucy couldn't get over how awkwardly the bra stretched over his broad chest, and how seriously he'd posed for the picture.

Natsu sent her another snap, which Lucy opened instantly. It was Natsu posed dramatically against a wall, the words, "OMG THAT WAS FOR GRAY" written across it. Lucy giggled again, and double tapped, sending back a quick reply.

In the selfie her smile was wide, and you couldn't tell that she'd just been crying. "Happens 2 the best of us" Lucy wrote, and sent it with another giggle. She couldn't believe Natsu would go so far just to make her feel comfortable again. When her phone lit up with another snap from Natsu, she eagerly opened it.

In the picture, he was wearing a shoelace as a head band, and making an over exaggerated duck face. He was puffing out his chest, mockingly trying to make his "breasts" appear bigger. Lucy was cracking up. Before she could send a snap back, Natsu sent her another one. This time he was in the corner of the picture. He was rolling his eyes so hard that all you could see were the whites, and his mouth was hanging open in an exaggerated annoyed expression. The rest of the picture showed the guys he lived with, all grinning and seeming to cheer him on. "Wen da fukbois keep tri n 2 talk 2 u" was written across the picture.

Lucy was laughing so hard at this point that tears were threatening to spill over. She quickly composed herself enough to take an eye rolling selfie of her own and send it back to Natsu with the caption "Ugh h8 wen dat hapns".

The next picture Lucy got was a super close up of Natsu making a derp face; his eyes were crossed and his lips were pressed together in an awkward smile. The caption read "Check Laxus' story".

With her brows pulling together in curiosity, Lucy quickly swiped over to the screen that listed all her friends' unseen snapstories. Sting's was the first one, and under that was Laxus'. Lucy was tempted to watch Sting's first, but she assumed they were probably the same; plus, Natsu had told her to watch Laxus'.

 _"New member of Fairy Tail!"_ Laxus' voice boomed behind the camera. Then his laughter filled the video. In the center shot was Natsu, his lips pursed into an exaggerated duck face as he stood with one hip poking out, his hands sassily placed on his waist. _"Say Hi Natsu!"_

 _"It's Natalie!"_ Natsu shot back in a high pitched voice. Lucy immediately fell into laughter upon hearing it, as did the other boys in the video.

After that, the snapchat cut off, and transitioned into a picture of Natsu with his knees bent and his butt sticking out. His hands were placed on his knees, and his head was turned towards the camera, a mock attempt at a seductive expression on his face. "Say hi to Natalie" was written across the picture.

A few seconds later, the picture disappeared into another video. This time, Gray was standing a few steps in front of Natsu, not looking thrilled at all. Natsu, with a smirk on his face, closed the distance between them, swaying his hips with each step. _"Gray-samaaaa,"_ Natsu cooed in the voice that made Lucy laugh, _"Tell me I'm pretty!"_

 _"Like hell I will!"_ Gray said, looking more annoyed than Lucy had ever seen him. _"You're the ugliest thing I've ever seen!"_

In the video, Natsu gasped. Frowning, he looked around quickly before taking a water bottle from someone out of the shot. Quickly, he turned around and splashed the remaining water all over Gray. The video cut off right after that, so that the last thing Lucy heard was Natsu's giggle and Gray's gasp.

Laxus' story ended there, and Lucy was a little disappointed. She was finding them really entertaining, and they were a great distraction from all of the stress her classes were giving her. Absentmindedly, she swiped back over to see if she had any new snaps, and was surprised yet pleased to see a new one from Natsu. It was blurry and looked like someone else's arm might be in the frame, and the caption read: "Gray is trying to kill me". Lucy snickered and sent back a picture of her floor. "That hapns wen you throw water on ppl," she wrote back, frowning at the way she had to shorten the words to make them fit. The English major in her sighed in disappointment.

While she waited, Lucy swiped back over to watch Sting's snapstory. It was more than likely the same as Laxus', but still, Lucy wanted something to distract herself from waiting for Natsu to reply. Her eyes lit up when she noticed that Laxus' story was at the top of the list now, meaning that he had added more. What had Natsu done this time?

 _"Natalie's snapchatting her girlfriend, Lucy,"_ Laxus' deep voice said from behind the camera as the video zoomed in on Natsu looking down at his phone. Lucy's heart pounded. Natsu's girlfriend?

Lucy watched as Natsu's head shot up and he frowned, pursing his lips exaggeratedly. _"Excuse me! But I'm actually snapchatting my_ boyfriend _, Lu!"_

 _"Oh, sorry. I forgot – "_ the video cut off before Laxus could finish talking, but written in the caption bar was the phrase, "Forgot we're all gender bent".

Lucy quickly closed the app before Laxus' story could continue. Her heart still hurt from the painful squeeze it gave when she heard the word "girlfriend". She'd started to crush on Natsu for sure, but she was forcing herself to ignore it. Natsu would never feel that way for her, or so she thought…But if his friends were teasing him about it, did that mean there was hope?

Her phone lit up with another snapchat from Natsu, and Lucy couldn't stop herself from opening it as soon as her fingers would let her. The picture was of a shrugging Natsu, eyes looking towards the side with the caption, "Well, it had to b done." Lucy snorted. Of course he would say that.

Taking a selfie of an extremely confused expression, Lucy sent it back to Natsu saying, "So I'm your bf?". He opened it only seconds after she sent it, and Lucy got nervous. She started to pick on her lower lip as she waited for a response. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. Right away the box next to his name became solid red again, letting Lucy know there was a new snap to be seen.

"So you saw Laxus' story" was written across selfie in which Natsu seemed to be laughing. Lucy's heart sank, just a little. Was it all just a joke then? Did she get her hopes up for nothing?

 _I'll play along then,_ Lucy thought to herself. She took a piece of her hair and put it across her upper lip. Angling her phone just right, she snapped a serious looking selfie and quickly wrote "Tis I. Your bf. Lu." before sending it.

Lucy eagerly awaited Natsu's response, and felt her chest tightening in anticipation when she saw that Natsu opened her snap. But he didn't respond. Instead, she saw that Natsu "replayed" her snap, and looked at it again. Still, no response. Did he not get the joke? Was he creeped out? Maybe the guys took his phone?

A million thoughts were going through Lucy's mind. Anxiously, Lucy swiped over to the list of snapstories to see if Laxus had updated his. Maybe she could see a video of Natsu opening her snap, and get a clue as to how he'd taken it. Sure enough, Laxus' story was once again at the stop of the list. Lucy breathed out a huge sigh as she clicked on it to watch.

Laxus' camera was focused on Natsu's phone, which was showcasing Lucy's "Lu" selfie. She could have died from embarrassment if it weren't for Natsu's voice bringing her back to life. _"See? This is Lu. Look how hot he is!"_ Natsu said, his voice still in a much higher pitch than normal. " _Yeah, he's got some nice tits,"_ was Laxus' response, making Lucy's laugh bitterly. How many times had she gotten that recently? _"Hey man, what the fuck?!"_ Natsu's normal voice brought Lucy's attention back to the video. On her screen, Natsu's face looked angry, and he pulled back his fist, his knuckles landing somewhere the camera didn't catch with a loud smack. Then the snapchat ended.

The snapstory wasn't over though. Another video filled Lucy's screen. This time, the camera was facing Laxus, his lips pressed together in an unamused smile. Across his face was written "I think I made him mad" and somewhere out of the shot Natsu said _"Alright, I'm done. Take this thing off a' me, will ya?"_

Lucy instantly felt bad. Was is what Laxus had said about her that made Natsu not want to play around anymore? Over the time that they had gotten close, she had realized that Natsu was easily persuaded to hit his friends. In fact, he used any excuse he could find to land a punch on one of them, especially Gray. So the fact that he had hit Laxus hadn't really surprised Lucy, or made her feel too special. But…maybe she was?

A few moments later, a new video was added to Laxus' story. In the video, Lucy saw Natsu's back, and giggled at the ridiculous image. "Well, that's one way to make a bra fit," she mumbled to herself. The two ends of the band barely made it around Natsu's ribcage, and X's made out of duct tape were placed over them, holding them to Natsu's skin.

 _"Okay, okay, just do it!"_ Natsu said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Lucy saw the muscles of his back tense up, and bit her lip, trying to keep her thoughts in check _. "Ready?"_ Sting said, standing behind Natsu. He gripped the straps, one in each hand, and counted off, _"One…two…three!"_ before tearing the bra off of Natsu's back in one go. There was an awful ripping sound that made Lucy cringe in sympathy, and she watch Natsu's entire body tense up as he yelled _"FU –"_ right before the video cut off.

Lucy took a deep breath, staring down at her phone blankly. She always knew boys were stupid, but putting duct tape on your back just to hold up a bra that didn't fit? How stupid could they get? And of course she felt a bit guilty, since Natsu had only done it for her…

Absent mindedly, Lucy swiped back over and perked up, seeing a new snap from Natsu. Sad eyes and mess of pink hair were on the bottom of the screen, and the rest of the shot was of Natsu's back. There were two ice packs on the sides of it, and red, irritated skin was peeking out from under them. "I fucked up" was Natsu's caption.

Lucy smiled sadly and took a selfie of her own. "I'm sorry," she sent back.

Natsu's next picture was of his bright smile. The words "I made ya smile so its cool" were written across his face.

Lucy's heart pounded. She so desperately wanted to know if Natsu felt the same way about her, or if he felt anything towards her at all. Sure, they were pretty close friends, but was there any hope for something more? Putting those thoughts safely to the back of her mind, Lucy gave another sad smile in her response and wrote, "I doubt I'm worth it".

The next snap Natsu sent her came so fast that Lucy questioned how he could have taken a picture and written a response in that short time. Natsu was frowning at her in the snap, and the caption was, "Course ya are, you're the best!"

Lucy noticed that she was blushing when she went to take a response selfie, so she did the only thing she could do: used her hand to cover her entire face. Then she wrote out, "Defs not!" and sent it before she could pick apart her picture and spend the next twenty minutes trying to find a cuter angle.

Natsu didn't respond as quickly this time, and that worried Lucy. She was always over thinking when it came to Natsu, which frustrated her; she was never like this, always thought girls who acted this way were dumb. Oh how the tables have turned.

When Natsu's response came, it was a purple block, not a red one, letting her know it was a video. That settled her worries; of course it took him longer, he was recording. After waiting a few moments for good measure, Lucy tapped on the box.

 _"Hey guys, isn't Lucy the best?"_ Natsu voice asked from behind the camera. In her view, Lucy was looking at Natsu's housemates. They were all bored looking, most of them playing around on their phones or tablets. Their responses were scattered and mumbled.

 _"Yeah."_

 _"Yeah, she's cool."_

 _"I think Erza is friends with her."_

 _"Lucy is awesome."_

 _"Levy's better."_

Lucy actually giggled. None of the guys even bothered to look up from their phones to respond, which Lucy found no offence in. Of course, she wasn't close with any of the guys Natsu lived with, aside from Gray, who she spent the most time with, second only to Natsu.

 _"Awwww, c'mon guys, you suck!"_ Natsu groaned right as the video cut off.

The box next to Natsu's name was purple again, and Lucy eagerly opened the new snap.

A picture of blurry stairs came up first, letting her know that Natsu was on the move. "Gonna go find better people to ask" the caption said. Lucy rolled her eyes as the picture transitioned into a video of Natsu opening someone's door.

 _"Hey – hey Sting –"_ Natsu started, already walking into the room.

 _"What the fuck,"_ Sting said over Natsu, sitting at his desk on the other side of the room _, "why are you in my room?"_

 _"Isn't Lucy the best?"_

 _"Who told you you could come in here? Get out, you're annoying –"_

 _"Isn't Lucy the best, Sting? Isn't Lucy so cool?"_

 _"Why would you even –"_

Lucy couldn't help but laugh as the two boys continued to talk over each other. Sting was looking down at his phone the entire time, his eyebrows pulled together in a way that made Lucy think he wasn't annoyed with Natsu so much as he was annoyed at whatever he was looking at.

 _"Yes, Lucy is awesome, now get the fuck out of my room!"_ Sting said, his voice getting louder as Natsu continued to walk closer to him until his phone was shoved right into Sting's face. Then the video cut off, and another one started.

" _Who ya textin'? Talkin' to Yukino?"_ Natsu teased, dodging Sting's fists as he swung them at Natsu.

 _"Why don't you go back to flirting with Lucy and leave me alone?"_ Sting growled angrily, making Lucy's eyes widen once again.

Natsu's laughter filled the video then. _"So you_ are _talking to Yukino!"_

 _"Get out!"_

And then the video became a blurry mess as Lucy assumed Sting forcefully pushed Natsu out the door.

A selfie popped up immediately after that. Natsu's eyes were looking off to the side, and his lips were pressed together in a firm line. "Ok. Let's ask Rogue." was the caption. Lucy snorted. Would Natsu ever stop?

When the picture disappeared, her screen went back to her list of received and sent snaps, and she waited for Natsu's next response. It came after a few moments.

The video was of a dimly lit room, and Lucy could barely make out a shadowy figure in the corner. _"Hey Rogue,"_ Natsu's familiar voice said, _"Isn't Lucy the best?"_

 _"Yeah,"_ Rogue responded without hesitation, his voice sounding bored. Lucy figured he'd heard the commotion with Sting, and just agreed so that Natsu would leave him alone. There was a slight pause before Natsu said, _"Nice. Cool talk, bro."_ And then the video cut off.

Lucy waited a few moments to see if Natsu would send her anything else. When he didn't, she took a selfie of her unamused smile and wrote back, "Thanks for proving I'm NOT the best".

Natsu's response was quick. It looked like he was laughing again in his selfie, and Lucy's heart melted at the sight. She'd just have to come to terms with the fact that Natsu's smile was one of the best things in her life. His caption read, "It's ok, I'll prove it to you eventually".

Lucy noticed that it looked like Natsu was in his bed. Instead of trying to keep the conversation going, she simply took a selfie of her smiling, the bar across her picture containing just a single word, "Okay."

Natsu didn't respond again after that. Lucy hadn't expected him to. She knew he worked really hard during the week with school work and his job tutoring; Lucy imagined he probably tried to sleep as much as he could on the weekends.

With a huge sigh, Lucy got off her bed and made her way back to her desk and biology text book. Taking a seat and opening the book to where she left off, Lucy began reading again. It seemed to be an impossible feat, however. The words on the page danced in her vision and in her mind she continuously replayed everything that had just happened with Natsu.

"Ugh!" Lucy groaned, shoving her books aside again.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: I'm actually crazy. I'm updating even though I have tons of work to do for classes. Oh well. As the youths say: YOLO!_

 _I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thank you all for reading!_

* * *

Lucy sipped her tea slowly as she sat across from Cana in the campus coffee shop. Both girls kept looking towards the door and silently played on their phones. They already knew Levy would be late. It was a Wednesday. Levy was always late on Wednesdays.

The two girls' heads snapped up in union when the door burst open with a loud bang. A timid "Sorry" was mumbled to no one in particular and then Levy was rushing towards them, arms full of books. It amazed Lucy that Levy didn't have amazing biceps from the amount of textbooks she always carried.

"Sorry I'm late! I got caught up in the library, some freshmen came in and couldn't find the Shakespeare section and –"

"Then after you pointed out where they needed to go you went right back to hooking up with Gajeel," Cana finished, mimicking Levy's exhausted tone. A smirk played on her lips as Levy's face flushed.

"N-no way! Gajeel and I aren't like that! We're just coworkers, we're barely even friends…" Levy trailed off, frowning more to herself than the two girls beside her.

Lucy smiled to Cana, silently raising an eyebrow at her friend while she pushed a cup of tea towards Levy. "Come on, Lev. You know that's a lie. Gajeel absolutely adores you. I know for a fact. Natsu sent me a snap of Gajeel talking about how much he likes you," Lucy confessed, biting her lip on a smile when Levy's face snapped up towards her.

"Yeah right!" Levy said, rolling her eyes as she took the tea in her hands. The light dusting of pink on her cheeks let Lucy know that she was pleased with the information nonetheless. But suddenly Levy's expression turned sly and she shot Lucy a challenging look. "So when are you and Natsu going to be official? I mean after that snapchat debacle you'd think the deal would be sealed by now."

Lucy flinched and broke eye contact with her friend. She let her mind wonder back a few weeks to that memory…

 _Lucy was still smiling when Levy finally came back to the room. Phone in hand, she was watching Laxus' snapstory over and over again. Yeah, maybe that was creepy, but so what? She liked to be reminded of what Natsu went through just to make her smile…_

 _When Levy walked back into their shared dorm, Lucy bolted straight up in bed. "Oh my gosh, Lev! I have to tell you something!"_

 _"Is it that you finished your bio homework like you said you would?" Levy said, her tone slightly sarcastic as she gave Lucy a knowing look._

 _Shaking her head once, Lucy said, "No! Although – yeah, I finished the work. But more importantly –!"_

 _"Does this have to do with Laxus' snapstory? 'Look, here's my boyfriend Lu!'" Levy said, trying to mimic Natsu's voice and failing considerably._

 _Lucy laughed more with happiness than humor. She nodded her head, still grinning. "Yeah, you saw that?! Oh my gosh. But here's how it started out!"_

 _And then Lucy was telling Levy everything that happened, starting with Cana's snapchat and ending with the last message she'd sent Natsu. When Lucy got to the part where she sent Natsu a shirtless picture, Levy had gasped, but Lucy quickly went on, telling Levy that Natsu had immediately made her feel better. Levy had climbed into her bed as Lucy spoke, both girls sitting like pretzels while facing each other, clutching pillows to their chest._

 _"Wow, Lu, Natsu did that just to make you feel better?" Levy said, a huge grin on her face as she squeezed her pillow harder to her chest._

 _Lucy had been smiling for so long that her cheeks felt numb, but she couldn't stop. "I know!" she squealed, putting her own pillow over her face. "Ugh," she moaned happily, falling back onto her bed. Smiling up at her plain white ceiling, she said, "Natsu is seriously the best."_

 _And then Levy had laughed in a way that made Lucy sit back up. "What?" she asked, her smile finally falling when confusion overtook her expression._

 _"'Natsu is seriously the best!'" Levy teased, holding a hand to her heart dramatically. Then her face fell into a sly grin and she wiggled her brows at Lucy. "Just admit it, Lu, you like him!"_

 _"I do not!" Lucy had argued, flustered. She hopped off her bed and started to get ready to sleep. "He's just a great friend," she explained, grabbing her face wash and tooth brush._

 _"Uh-huh," Levy said knowingly, and Lucy didn't need to turn around to know that her friend was smirking. "I'm a great friend, but I don't see you smiling up at the ceiling talking about how great I am."_

 _"Oh give it a rest! I don't like him, okay?" Lucy said seriously, turning around to give Levy a "please drop it" look._

 _"Whatever you say," Levy agreed, putting her hands up in defense._

"Hey, earth to Lucy!" Cana's voice said, and Lucy snapped out of her thoughts just in time to turn her head and get pelted in the face with a packet of sugar. "Thinking about Natsu again?"

But Cana's comment was drowned out when Lucy said, "I do not like him!" to Levy at the same time.

"Don't like who?" Levy asked, laughter in her eye as she brought her cup to her lips, taking a drink from her tea.

"Oh, don't play that with me!" Lucy said, her eyebrows pulling together in annoyance. "You know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Who are you talking about?" Cana asked, smiling at Levy.

Lucy's mouth fell open. Hadn't she and Cana just been teaming up on Levy? How could she?! "Who's side are you even on!?" Lucy cried, looking at Cana with utter betrayal.

Cana just smirked and pulled a water bottle out of her bag. She poured whatever was really in it into her coffee and shrugged at Lucy. "I don't pick sides. I swing both ways." Cana chuckled as her friends rolled their eyes at her double meaning.

"Natsu! Okay. I was talking about Natsu, jeez," Lucy moaned, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"You were talking about me?"

Lucy squeaked and jumped, glaring as her friends giggled at her startled reaction. She turned to her side to see Natsu standing a few feet away from their table. His hands were casually tucked into the pockets his ripped, black skinny jeans, and his head was tilted to the side in open curiosity.

Lucy was blushing madly. "Oh – no, not really!"

"She was just saying how excited she is to go on this date with you!" Cana said in an uncharacteristically innocent tone, kicking Lucy under the table as she spoke. Lucy's eyes widened, and she kicked Cana back with twice the force. She glared back at Lucy, but otherwise she didn't even flinch.

Not daring to look at Natsu, Lucy quickly amended Cana's statement. "I didn't call it a date! It's not a date, we're just studying in the quad. It's not a date at all," Lucy rambled nervously. Giving herself an excuse to avoid eye contact with Natsu awhile longer, Lucy leaned down and picked up the small cooler she'd filled with food and drinks. Natsu had only agreed to tutor her in bio if she provided lunch. But Lucy had a feeling he would have done it anyway.

"Oh, sorry. It's just that having lunch on the quad seems so romantic to me," Cana pushed, leaning down at an awkward angle. Lucy assumed she was rubbing the spot where she had kicked, and for some reason that made her smile.

"Cana," she rolled her eyes, "its spring. Tons of students study on the quad? It's super nice out. Plus I'm always out there sunbathing anyway, might as well get some studying in while I do."

"Oh yeah," Cana nodded, and Lucy didn't like the glint in her eyes one bit. "I do see you sitting out there in those skimpy outfits, getting all that attention from guys."

"I do not get attention from guys," Lucy argued in mild confusion. What was Cana even talking about?

"You get tons of attention from guys! Remember that one guy you let feel you up at a party?" Cana said, her smirk seeming to go unnoticed by everyone except for Lucy.

"Wait, what?" Natsu asked, his voice seeming as if he'd gotten lost in their conversation and was just resurfacing now.

"Nothing!" Lucy was quick to say.

"Oooo-kay," Natsu said, filling the awkward silence that had settled upon the group. He was looking at Lucy with furrowed eyebrows, and it was clear by his expression that he was probably thinking about how weird she was.

Sighing and forcing all negative thoughts out of her mind, Lucy stood up and grabbed Natsu's wrist in her hand. "We should get going now! Bye Levy! Bye Cana!"

"Uh – b-bye guys!" Natsu called, letting Lucy drag him out of the café without waiting for a response from their friends.

* * *

Lucy shifted the strap of her backpack on her left shoulder, fiddling with it just to give herself something to do while Natsu stood a few feet away, surrounded by sorority girls.

"Um, can you sign this headshot?" one girl asked shyly, shoving a picture and a sharpie at Natsu. The rest of her friends around her were giggling relentlessly.

Where she stood, Lucy tried her best not to roll her eyes as she looked at the scene before her. The girls had to be freshmen, no one else bought the headshots of the sports stars from the school store. And if they did, they definitely didn't ask to get them signed.

Natsu snorted but took the sharpie in his hand anyway. "Don't these things cost money? You should buy other stuff, not my picture!" he laughed, looking down as he signed his name.

"No way," the girl immediately protested, "Your picture is totally worth the money."

"If you say so," Natsu shrugged, handing it back to her with an unconvinced smile.

"You're totally the best player on the team!" another girl gushed, obviously sensing that they were about to lose Natsu's attention.

At that, Natsu grinned. His chest puffed out a little with pride, but he shook his head nevertheless. "Nah, that's not true. We're all good. And Gray might be a little better than me – ya know, when both my ankles are sprained and I have a concussion," he quickly amended, making the girls around him laugh.

"You're so sweet and funny. I can't believe you don't have a girlfriend!" the same girl said, causing all her friends to chime in with "Yeah!" and "Me too!" and "I totally can't believe you're single!"

Lucy couldn't bite her tongue anymore. She accidentally let out a small giggle, causing one of the girls to glare in her direction. She only smiled back.

"Eh, I ain't that great," Natsu shrugged, scratching his nose. Lucy almost laughed again at how oblivious he was.

"Well," the same girl said, stepping forward a bit. "Since you don't have a girlfriend, could I have your number?"

Lucy's eyes widened. The rest of the girls in the group bit their lips on smiles, obviously trying to hold in nervous giggles. Natsu, on the other hand, outright laughed. The sound wasn't mean or harsh, it was more humorous, as if she'd just told him a funny story.

"My number? Why would ya want that?" he asked, still laughing a little to himself.

The girl smiled at him, clearly pleased that he hadn't rejected her. Her eyes trailed down to his stomach as he leaned back to stretch his arms, causing his loose fitting tank top to lift up a bit. Lucy had to admit that the light dusting of pink hair leading down into the waist line of his jeans was pretty eye catching.

"She's trying to ask you out," one of the other girls blurted out, causing the group to fall back into a frenzy of giggles.

Natsu laughed along with them as the girl swatted a hand at her friend, her cheeks blazing red. Lucy had a feeling the girl's anger was just for show though; she seemed pretty bold, her friend's comment probably hardly phased her.

"Ask me out? But we're already outside?" Natsu said, looking confused as he finally walked away from the girls. The look of disappointment on all of their faces almost made Lucy feel bad. Almost. Taking her wrist in his hand, Natsu began walking away while saying his goodbyes to his fans. "I gotta go study with Lucy now. I'll see ya guys around!"

As they walked away, Lucy heard a bitter moan, and someone whine, "She's so lucky!" But was she really? It wasn't like her and Natsu were actually a thing…

After a few moments, Natsu let go of Lucy's wrist so that he could take the cooler out of her hand, which Lucy was very thankful for. It had gotten pretty heavy while she was waiting for Natsu to be done with his fangirls. Switching the cooler to his right hand, Natsu smoothly slid his free hand back into Lucy's. This time he laced his fingers through hers, and she bit her lip, trying not to give too much of a reaction. Did Natsu hold anyone else's hand? It seemed so out of character of him, but maybe it wasn't.

"You're pretty oblivious, you know," Lucy offered, glancing at Natsu as they walked through main campus.

"Huh?" he said, snapping his head towards her with a very adorably confused expression.

Lucy giggled. "See?" she said, and shook her head, fighting off a smile. "Those girls back there were totally into you. Didn't you notice at all?"

"I mean, they like how I play soccer, sure. But it's not like they know me or anything…"

The concentrated frown on Natsu's face let Lucy know that he was trying very hard to understand what she was saying. Sighing, she tried a different approach. "Well, they wanted to get to know you. Don't you like girls?" Lucy asked, her voice coming out way more hesitant than she had intended.

This was a conversation she knew she would have to have with Natsu eventually. When they first met and Natsu hadn't made any moves on her, she'd at first thought he was taken. Or maybe just trying to get on her good side. But then she'd found out he was single, and weeks passed and he hadn't tried anything still. She'd liked that about him at first, not used to guys respecting her, especially guys in frats. But it made her wonder…

She'd vaguely heard of the term asexual before. She didn't know too much about it, but from what she had gathered she was assuming it described people who weren't interested in sex. And Lucy thought maybe that's how Natsu was. Then she heard the term aromantic, and thought that fit Natsu's personality as well. So if Natsu wasn't interested in sex and he wasn't interest in a romantic relationship then…Lucy had to bit the inside of her lip to keep the disappointment from flooding in her chest.

The only way she'd know for sure was if she asked him. But she knew that her chances of being wrong weren't high. Natsu always did little things to make her smile, but at the end of the day she knew Natsu would go out of his way to make any of his friends smile, even Gray. And when Lucy remembered she was on the same level as Gray, she would lose all hope at all. But still, her aching heart needed to hear it straight from Natsu's lips.

"What do ya mean?" Natsu asked, his face scrunching up in even more confusion. His grip on Lucy's hand was starting to loosen considerably, and she fought hard not to clench her fingers around his palm.

"I just mean…" Lucy trailed off and took a deep breath. For some reason she couldn't manage to keep eye contact, so she dropped her gaze to the floor and said, "Are you _interested_ in girls?"

Natsu stopped walking, which startled Lucy enough to force her to look back up at him. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were thinned by his frown. "I'm not sure what you're trying to imply."

But his expression told Lucy that he knew exactly what she was implying. Instead of answering back, she simply nodded her head and looked down. They walked in silence for a few more steps until they reached a shady spot under a tree. By this point Natsu had completely dropped Lucy hand, but she acted as if she didn't even noticed as she searched through her bag for her beach blanket.

"I mean, I don't date, if that's what you're getting at," Natsu said as Lucy laid out the blanket and sat on it.

A sharp pain stung at her chest. "It's really none of my business," Lucy said crisply, busying herself with pulling her textbooks out of her bag so that she could avoid looking at Natsu. She'd been told before that the size of her eyes made it easy to read the emotions in them, and she worried that – even as dense as Natsu was – he would see her utter heart break.

"I'll tell ya if you really wanna know," Natsu offered.

Lucy still wasn't looking at him. "You really don't have to tell me." _Please don't tell me_.

"It's just that…" Natsu trailed off and sighed. After a moment he started talking again. "I grew up with just my dad and a bunch of open fields. There were no other people around – seriously. It's kinda weird to think back and remember it now, but I swear to you I'd never seen another person besides my dad 'til I was ten.

"Anyway, I never had any friends. So I kinda didn't really grow up learning how to interact with others. Friendship didn't really mean anything to me 'til I was older…And my dad was single, so it's not like this idea of growing up and getting married was instilled in me. Me and my dad were happy just the two of us, so I never really put much value into dating and relationships. The idea of dating and marriage…well, I guess it wasn't normalized for me like it is for everyone else.

"It wasn't until I lost my dad that I started to care about friendships. But that's just 'cause I was tryin' really hard to find a new family, ya know? Family's all that really matters to me…I don't really care much for dating. All I really need are good friends."

Lucy felt like there was a wild fire trapped inside of her chest. It hurt so badly and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Natsu had so very literally just told her to her face that she was delusional for even thinking there could ever be anything between them. Why had she let herself crush on him in the first place?

"You don't have to give me an explanation," Lucy said, finally looking up to see that Natsu was already looking at her. She hauled her heavy text book onto her lap with a grunt and said, "What you can give me an explanation for, though, is this freaking bio. What does any of this even mean?!" Lucy looked down at her book with a tired expression, and flipped it open to a random page. "I mean, is this even English?!"

At that, Natsu snorted. "Thank God it's not! I hate English. But the language of science is one I'm fluent in."

"Yeah, well," Lucy rolled her eyes, flipping the pages back to the chapter her class was currently on. "Start translating."

Taking the book from Lucy's arms, Natsu nodded. "Aye, sir!"

* * *

Lucy groaned as she walked back into her dorm room. She took a moment to close her eyes and lean back against her shut door. After taking several deep breathes she opened her eyes again, and was pleased to see that Levy wasn't in.

Dropping all of her belongings onto the floor in the middle of her room, Lucy immediately began to strip off her clothes. After four hours of studying and being rejected by Natsu, all Lucy wanted to do was get into a hot shower. Well, she would have preferred a bath, but she supposed the communal hall showers would just have to do.

Throwing on her robe and grabbing her towel and shower caddy, Lucy made her way down the hall to the bathroom. Stepping into a shower stall, she quickly stripped herself of her robe and turned the water to the hottest it would go.

And then she started crying.

It was as if everything was hitting her at once. She wasn't doing well in bio, no matter how hard she tried. The last four hours seemed pointless because even with Natsu's help she still didn't get it. But maybe that was because she couldn't focus since every time he spoke she just remembered how much she wanted to be with him and how indifferent he was towards her.

Leaning her head against the gross shower wall, Lucy sighed. The tears finally stopped coming, and she looked at the shower floor, letting the hot water relax the muscles in her back.

"Of course the absolute only guy you ever actually get interested in is completely apathetic towards dating," she muttered to herself, sighing again.

Leaning away from the shower wall, Lucy finished up her shower quickly, spending an extra few minutes scrubbing at her forehead. When she got back to the room, Levy was there. Surprisingly, she didn't make any teasing comments about Natsu. Maybe she could sense Lucy's heart break.


End file.
